Net Metering Is in the Air: Solar Energy Progress in Massachusetts and Other States

Last week, we reported on legislation in Massachusetts that would increase homeowners’ access to net metering in the state. The legislation would be good for solar, and it seems likely to pass in solar-friendly Massachusetts.

It’s because net metering has been so successful, and continues to be so popular, that utilities and the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the primary trade association for U.S. utility companies, are fighting it so hard. The pattern is to attempt to undermine net metering through legislation that directly attacks consumer energy choice while maintaining an energy monopoly.

Massachusetts and net metering

Net metering has helped propel Massachusetts to the #4 solar state, despite its northern location. Solar has been so successful there that one of the net metering caps in the state (which are separated into public and private projects) has hit its limit. An Act Relative to Net Metering (S2019 and H3901) would both extend the cap and establish a study of the policy.

There was bound to be some kind of retaliation, and we heard about it late last week: utilities have filed SB 2030 — a bill that seems to be “ right out of the EEI playbook,” according to Evan Dube, Director of Government Affairs at SunRun.

The bill is being drafted in an open-ended way that gives the utilities leeway to take it in different directions. As is common with this kind of legislation, some details would be left to the state’s Department of Public Utilities. What’s certain is that it would not be good for net metering, or good for solar.

What’s the outlook for this and the other new bills? If recent developments are any indication, we can hope for good outcomes for solar.

Massachusetts is the latest of a string of states where utilities are adopting the EEI playbook in attempts to control energy choice and undermine net metering. In some states, like Washington, we’re also seeing other organizations get involved, most notably the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

In Washington State, TASC and fellow clean energy advocates kept ALEC-inspired attacks on net metering out of state legislation. HB 2176 and HB 1301 would have also given utilities monopolistic control over the rooftop solar market by blocking companies other than the utilities from offering solar leasing programs. The anti-competition legislation died with the end of session last week — a blow to ALEC, as well as to anti-solar utilities and EEI.

Also inspired by ALEC, Rocky Mountain Power attempted to slip net metering attacks into SB 208 in Utah. Solar industry groups and advocates ensured that no changes to net metering were included in the legislation. SB 208 is now a simple study bill that will look at the value of distributed solar. It is headed for signature from Governor Herbert after passing through both the Senate and the House.

And Vermont was the site of another win for net metering, when a bill passed the Senate that raises the state’s net metering cap from 4% of a utility’s peak load to 15%. Some Vermont utilities had already hit the lower cap and had stopped taking new net-metered power, so the new cap would allow more net metering there. The bill awaits final confirmation from the House, which will vote on it this week, before heading to the governor’s desk.

Outlook for 2014

We can expect more net metering victories as legislative sessions progress in various states. The Massachusetts session goes through July.

Dube has reason to expect a good outcome there. “We are confident in the success of net metering in Massachusetts and the other 42 states across the country that have it,” he says, “and confident in the benefits that net metering provides, and its benefits for the industry.”

Rosana is Director of Communications at the Clean Coalition, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to accelerate the transition to renewable energy and a modern grid through technical, policy, and project development expertise. Her articles on clean energy have been published on CleanTechnica, pv magazine, Triple Pundit, and more. Rosana formerly served on the steering committee of the Local Clean Energy Alliance and the board of Women in Cleantech and Sustainability, and she currently serves on the board of Everybody Solar. She volunteers installing solar for low-income families with GRID Alternatives and has been the top individual fundraiser for their Bay Area Solarthon eight years in a row.

Storing an unreliable solar or wind kWh costs 20-40 cents, more than the cost of making a reliable dispatchable kWh with a nuclear power plant.How would utilities pay their bills if all customers built enough solar to be net zero?Net metering laws force poor people to pay higher rates so that rich people can get free storage and power conditioning dabbling in solar. It is totally unethical.

If solar panels owners have to pay extra for their grid connection, I far bigger proportion will go off the grid which is even worse for the people staying on the grid.The succes of the rooftop solar battery program in Germany (only 30% subsidy), shows those rooftop PV-panel owners are prepared to invest additional… Combine that with the predicted fall in battery prices, then there is not much space for the monopoly utilities to worse netmetering conditions. Unless they want to loose substantial share of their customers.

Let’s continue this conversation over at OurEnergyPolicy.org. Environmental Defense Fund would love to hear opinions on whether or not you think net metering is a fair system for compensating owners of distributed generation.